My Swiss pal Hans Peter racing in the Swiss Alps.....

Time is Flyin' !!

Wow! Last post was before/about BHMTBD, now it's August, the Dog
Days, the Month Before September.......
BHMTBD was a washout, rained like dogs and cats just as we were
setting up the event, combined with depressing forecasts of thunder
and lightning.....it didn't actually get real stormy but the rain did
come down fora while. By 11 am most of the rain had stopped, and I
took a crew of 12 hardy souls up Buck Hill and back. A kids ride went
around the pond, and at least another posse of riders went and made
the best of it. The kids 'rodeo' finally got some use, and the bike
limbo was a hit as usual.
With about 50 registered riders including ride leaders and sweeps, it was the all-time lowest
attendance for the event, which has been known to attract 7-800 people
some years.......
July I don't think I even rode my Ted, but logged some good road
mileage commuting on my old Epic road bike. I saw some trail while
'patrolling' as a seasonal ranger in the BH on my old grey HooKoo
'battleship', or as it was referred to by a friend as my 'tool'.
August is here, and I've been through the Northeast Kingdom twice
without my bike(driving through on the way up to Quebec City and
back), which made me real sad, but after talking with the locals, the
trails are unrideable due to the VERY wet summer they've been having
up there. I saw a river rise ten feet in the three days we were gone,
while we were up in QC enjoying dry (but cold--63F!) weather . I won't
elaborate on that trip only to say that I could not find a bike shop!

Blue Hills Mountain Bike Day June 15th

Blue Hills Mountain Bike Day is upon us again!!

Here's the lowdown.......

Sunday, June 15, 2008      10:00am – 3:00pm     Houghton's Pond

Blue Hills Reservation      Milton, Massachusetts

 Skills clinics to learn and practice riding techniques and bike repairs

 Trail rides for all ability levels from beginner to advanced

 The MTB Day Very Famous Bike Limbo Competition

 Special kids bike riding area and obstacle course

 Local bike shops and industry vendors will showcase latest bikes and gear

 Connect with NEMBA representatives and learn about great places to ride

 >>>>>NEW THIS YEAR!! There will be a food vendor on-site grilling up some tasty bites! (thats the only thing you'd need money for, otherwise the event is FREE!)

DIRECTIONS: TAKE HOUGHTON'S POND EXIT 3 OFF ROUTE 93/128 IN MILTON

THEN FOLLOW MOUNTAIN BIKE DAY SIGNS TO HOUGHTON'S POND

For more details and photos,visit www.semassnemba.org

or call Blue Hills Headquarters at 617-698-1802

Sponsored in partnership with the Department of Conservation and Recreation,  New England Mountain Bike Association and DCR Blue Hills TrailWatch

As always, the fun depends on the generosity of our  volunteers-- ride leaders/co-leaders and sweeps, clinicians*, wrenches, set-up and take-down people are needed.

We will try to have 4-5 led rides going out per hour, from 10-1.... 

*if you have a forte' with the bike that you'd like to share with a group on- or off- trail, let's get you on the schedule!!

Some examples would be: 'On-trail flat repair', 'on-the-fly derailleur adjustment', or, 'what to do if your chain breaks', 'PYT' ride', Basic Bike Safety for kids, Safe Bike Commuting, Log-Hopping, YOU name it! It can be 15 minutes long, or all day......

Email cobblestv@gmail.com if you can help in any way!

SteveC 

A Different Year

This year has turned out to be different. Work is more demanding both
physically and mentally, than ever. I see the trail about once a week.
The other times that I do get when I could ride, sometimes I just
don't want to. That's not good.
The good thing is that I've been biking to work, so I can get as long
of a ride as I want at either end of the day. Nights have been my
session of choice, but I really need lights, so I can really see where
I'm going.....I did buy a cool little rear blinky by Planet Bike that
has 7 red leds, all facing a different direction, and it's bright. My
vision at night isn't as good as day, but there's less road
competition at night and usually they have their lights on......I ride
my older GF HooKoo, as I don't really want to ride my 3 thousand
dollar trail bike to work.......and the road bike at night scares me,
since I can't see the potholes as easily and I'd be going
faster........
That said, I did get a good road bike ride in today, and it feels good.
Hoping that all the road work will pay off next time I hit the trail......

Mass DCR Park Serve Day May 17th

http://parkserv.env.state.ma.us/
A good day to give back, but also the same day as NEMBA's Trail School Weekend:
http://www.nemba.org/nembaevents/TrailSchool.html

Trails Survey

529 yd 12" corr plastic cv (5)

539 yd nf wb(not an obst) (6)

578yd 24" cp cv fc(7)

.58 mi nf wb(nn)(not an obstruction)

.59 mi 3085(mk need new)nf cv(8)

.60 mi nf armored water crossing (9)

.61 nf wb rr tie (10)

Name that section of trail in the above transcription(hint: it's in
the 3000 section of the Blue Hills)

Chances are, you'd have a tough time finding that, and may be tougher
to decipher all that shorthand. But in the context of a full Trails
Survey report, it all makes sense....

The abbreviations are trail features and descriptions of mechanical
structures you may have never noticed--culverts, waterbars,
intersection markers, and distances from beginning of the trail,
etc....The (5) numbers are references to footnotes for recommended
action, repair, the level trail crew expertise needed, etc......

In the Fall of 2007, the Friends of Blue Hills posted an enticing
employment opportunity--they wanted to pay someone to travel EVERY
trail in the Blue Hills, and record every nuance of every yard
thereof. Being paid to be outside on the trail every day was very
enticing, so I got in line with quite a few applicants in front of
Bob Flagg's house and waited my turn. Well, not literally in front of
his house, but in the virtual email line that was forming......

After an intensive interview process, and out of many qualified
applicants, they hired two of us, myself and Ken Jones, an avid
outdoorsman in every sense. So we split up the park and we each do one
section at a time. We started in December, and I got a few days in,
but with all the snow and the holiday hooplah, I didn't really get
started until after First Day. So I've been stacking up some mileage
and getting to know the place real well, literally. And I'm a
double-agent, acting as a TrailWatcher too!
Armed with my tool cache--GPS for yardage/mileage, digital camera,
cell phone, digital voice recorder, batteries for all of that, a trail
saw just in case, water and sustenance in my camelbak along with
space blanket and an extra kitchen sink-- I average about 1 mph on
foot, or less, while stopping to find hidden culverts, and to record
all of the details as I go along. I make notes of where work needs to
be done, from brushing out the trail, to major rockwork and everything
in between. I have to stay organized so that when I'm transcribing
back home on the computer, it will all make sense. The transcribing is
the hardest part, actually sitting still for a long time, listening to
my own voice, translating into the abbreviated shorthand you saw
above, which saves precious file (and paper) space. Then I check my
work a couple-few times, hoping that my cat didn't walk all over the
keyboard and make his own comments. Only after all that, I send my
cyber-trail off to my boss. Then I wait for the weather to cooperate,
and go do it all again. It hasn't been, actually, an outside-every-day
job, but gets me out there a coupla times a week, before I go warm up
in the kitchen at my night job.
Now that it's past April 15th, I am stacking up some serious
trail-time on my bike again, so I'm getting the survey done in record
time. I kinda miss the hiking-times that I had over the winter, but
not really. Actually the hiking really made me learn the place, and my
kids came out with me a coupla times, so it was well worth the slowing
down......

Classic Lance